Nickel catalyst with different supports for green diesel production

Abstract

Green diesel or bio-hydrogenated diesel can be produced from vegetable oils and their derivatives via a catalytic reaction. This work carried out the synthesis and characterization of nickel catalysts for the production of n-alkane from palmitic acid. A nickel (Ni) metal catalyst was studied based on different properties of the supports which were zirconia (ZrO2), Zeolite Socony Mobil–5 (H-ZSM-5), and activated carbon (AC). All catalysts were prepared via the incipient wetness impregnation method. The reaction was carried out in semi-batch mode with the controlled hydrogen gas pressure as low as 10 bars. The results showed that Ni on ZrO2 provided the highest conversion (98.33%) and high n-pentadecane selectivity of around 76% due to the highest acidity of the ZrO2 surface. Methane gas was the main component in the gaseous products and due to the methanation reaction on CO, CO2 was produced. The successful synthesis of a Ni-catalyst for green diesel production (n-pentadecane) from palmitic acid at low pressure can be implemented via deoxygenation reaction to produce green diesel.